B.R. Ambedkar and Conversion of Dalits
Dr. Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar is one of the greatest pillars for the resurrection of Buddhism in modern India. The first real encounter of Dr. Ambedkar with Buddhism sprang into existence with the presentation of a book on the life of Gautama Buddha by K.A. Keluskar on the grand and remarkable occasion of coming through with flying colors in the matriculation examination in 1907. Since then he became the keenest student of Buddhism. The tenets and thoughts of Buddhism struck the minds of Dr. Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar simply because the Buddhist ideas and ideals were most suited to his personal disposition. In this context, it is pertinent to have a glance at the profile of Dr. Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar.
Dr. Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar was born
at Mhow in Modern Madhya Pradesh on 14 April 1891 in an untouchable Mahar
family. The ancestral village of Dr. Ambedkar was Ambavade in the district of Ratnagiri
in the Konkan region of Maharashtra. It is
interesting to note that the surname ‘Ambedkar’ has not been taken from the
native village Ambavade, but it has been voluntarily adopted by one of
the High School teachers out of reverence and respect.
Being an untouchable, Dr. Bhimrao
Ramji Ambedkar had to bear the brunt of humiliation and segregation. Even then
he equipped himself with the best academic laurels. He had been an alumnus of
Columbia University in the U.S.A., London School of Economics and Political
Science, Gray’s Inn, London University in the U.K, and Bonn University in Germany. Dr. Ambedkar considered knowledge and education a meansthe power of all sorts.
Although Dr. Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar
had a very humble beginning, he left no stone unturned for the edification and
advancement of his personality. It is a truism that Dr. Ambedkar started his
career from the scratch and came to the national map. He is now regarded as the
primus-inter-pares among contemporary national leaders. He is one of the
architects of modern India. His vision of modern India is translated into the
Indian constitution which advocates democracy, secularism, equality, social
justice, and so on. He was the Chairman of the Drafting Committee of the Indian
constitution. Dr. Ambedkar introduced new principles of political organization
and established a solid base for the Indian political system and national building
activity. He started the process of resurrection in the lower stratum of
society. The greatest contribution of Dr. Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar is seen on the
smiling faces of millions of untouchables and Dalits in modern India.
Dr. Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar was born
as a Hindu. When he grew up, he had to face lots of difficulties and problems
within the Hindu fold. The first disenchantment with Hinduism was the
prevalence of caste system based on birth. Gautama Buddha repudiated the
concept of caste-system contingent on birth. Gautama Buddha exhorts in the Sutta Nipata as under:
Kammunā Vasalo hoti, Kammunā hoti,
Brāhmano.”
BUDDHISM
VIS-À-VIS DR. AMBEDKAR
Dr Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar has always
sought the help and solace from Buddhism for his social, political and
philosophical thinking. In this perspective, he contributed new, novel and cogent
interpretations of Buddhism. The analysis of interpretation of Buddhism given
by Dr. Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar is very challenging, for instance, acceptance of
Two Fold Jewel, i.e. the Buddha and the Dharma
instead of Three Fold Jewel, i.e. the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha. It is
true to hold that Dr. Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar explicated the teachings of
Buddhism in a changing world. It is a pragmatic realism that religion is meant
for the welfare of humankind. In this context, Dr. B.R. Ambedkar states as
under:
“Religion is for man and not man for
religion.”
In 1936 Dr. Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar
wrote a book entitled “Annihilation of
Caste” and in that year itself he made up his mind to renounce Hinduism. It
is pertinent to note that Dr. B.R.Ambedkar did not desert the religion of his
birth in a fluke. It took twenty years to renounce Hinduism.
On 14 October, 1956 Dr. Bhimrao
Ramji Ambedkar embraced Buddhism at a historic ceremony in Nagpur with his more
than half a million followers. This conversion to Buddhism was a water-shed
development in the lives of millions of untouchables in India.
The background for conversion to
Buddhism of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar took place in a considered and thoughtful way. He
began to take active role for Buddhism in thought and action. In 1949, he
addressed the World Buddhist Conference at Kathmandu in Nepal on ‘Marxism
Versus Buddhism”. He also attended the World Buddhist Conference in Śrī Lankā
in the following year. In 1954, he again attended the World Buddhist Conference
at Yangoon in Myammar.
For the propagation of Buddhism, Dr.
B.R. Ambedkar formed several organizations. The mention may be made of the
Bhārtīya Buddha Jansangha in 1951 and Bhārtīya Buddha Mahāsabhā in 1956. He
also contributed to the Buddhist literary world. He compiled a Buddhist Prayer
Book titled ‘Upāsanā Pātha.’
Dr. Ambedkar was an economist by
training and with the passage of time he became a political leader. He sought
the concept of political economy from Buddhism. The concept of political
economy outlined in the sermons and discourses of Gautama Buddha is ethical and
democratic. It was revolutionary for the sixth century BCE and is still
relevant today. According to the Kutadanta
Sutta and the Chakkavatti Simhanada
Sutta of the Digha Nikaya, the eternal
universal Dhamma ought to be the only
supreme sovereign of rulers; ethics must govern public administration as wide
spread poverty is the cause of disorder, crime and discontent, the economic
welfare of all people is essential and the internal and as well as the foreign
policies of a state must be based on the righteousness (Dhamma). Thus, Buddhism enjoins that the state
must be for the welfare of all and for serving moral ends. Dr. Ambedkar tried
his level best to emulate this sort of paradigm of political economy.
Dr. Ambedkar applied the profound concept
of Dhamma for societal dynamism.
In fact, for the first time, he was influenced by the Buddhist concept of social
thought after going through a renowned book titled “The Essence of Buddhism”
(1912) by Lakshmi Narasu. “The spirit of Buddhism,” Narasu opines, “is
essentially socialistic”. Dr. Ambedkar was a great exponent of equitable
distribution of natural resources, opportunities, and services. He accorded
utmost importance to the dignity of labor.
The genesis of the Dhamma of Dr. Ambedkar may be traced back to the Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta [vii] of the Samyutta Nikaya of the Sutta Pitaka. In Buddhology, the
importance of the Dhammacakkappavattana is supreme and peerless. It is the
foundation of Buddhist philosophy and meta-physics. Every school of
Buddhism solicits epistemological as well as ontological underpinnings from the
Dhammacakkappavattana. It is a fountainhead from which the Buddhistic streams
have been continuously flowing in different directions for the edification and
satisfaction of human beings regarding religious and spiritual well-being.
There may be an analogy between the Dhammacakkappavattana and the Sun. The Dhammacakkappavattana
is like the Sun around which different forms of Buddhism like planets have been
orbiting in harmony and concord since the time immemorial. Thus, the importance
of the Dhammacakkappavattana is second to none, and the Eight-Fold Path is a
constituent of the former.
The Dhammacakkappavattana, that is to say, the First Sermon of Gautama Buddha consists of the Four-Fold Truth, Eight Fold Path, Dependent Origination, Twelve linked Causation, Karma and Re-birth, Middle Path, and so on.
The Four-Fold Truth is enumerated as i) suffering (dukkha), ii) cause of suffering (dukkha-samudaya), iii) cessation of suffering (dukkha-nirodha), and iv) path leading to the cessation of suffering (duhkha-nirodha gāminī pratipat).
The Eight Fold Path is taken as i) Right View (Samyak Drsti), ii) Right Determination (Samyak Sankalpa), iii) Right Speech (Samyaka Vāk), iv) Right Action (Samyak Karmānta), v) Right Livelihood (Samyak Ājiva), vi) Right Effort (Samyaka Vyāyāma), vii) Right Thought (Samyak Smrti), and viii) Right Concentration (Samyak Samādhi). Furthermore, the Eight Fold Path has been again reorganized into the Triple Path, such as the Sīla, (Right Conduct), Samādhi (Right Concentration), and Prajñāa (Right Wisdom). The Sīla, Samādhi, and Prajñāa are the way to attain emancipation from the mundane life.
Dr. Ambedkar has emulated the democratic values and ideals from Buddhism. In fact, Buddhism stands for democratic values and ideals. In recent times, democratic values and ideals are considered and recognized as the best form of methodology to tackle all sorts of problems and disputes in the entire globe. It is utmost compatible concerning governance in the modern world. Today, the democratic form of government has become a role model for governance, and the majority of governments on earth have voluntarily adopted this sort of political dispensation. This type of government is now much revered in the comity of nations.
Gautama Buddha did not propagate any gospel and dogma. The entire corpus of teachings and sermons of the Buddha is based on pragmatic realism and rational thinking. Gautama Buddha exhorted, “Atta dīpā viharatha.” (That is to say- Be light unto yourself or be island unto yourself). He further says in the Attavagga of the Dhammapada by the following way:
Gautama Buddha provided a full-fledged freedom to think, decide and act. He did not thrust any ideas upon his followers in any form. The Tattvasangraha of Ācārya Śāntaraksita states in a crystal clear way:
Pariksya,
Bhiksavo, grāhyam madvaco na tu gauravāt.’’
Buddhism is totally and completely compatible with the scientific thinking, and it has all the qualities and traits of becoming a future religion. That is why Albert Einstein opines, “The religion of the future will be a cosmic religion. It will transcend a personal God and avoid dogmas and theology. Covering both the natural and spiritual it should be based on a religious sense arising from all things- natural and spiritual as a meaningful unity. Buddhism answers this description.”
Dr. Ambedkar was a great rationalist with scientific outlook. He interpreted a very important and perplexing theory of Karma and rebirth. Thus, one of the most important theories of physics has been applied to explain a very vexed and complex concept of Buddhism.
According to Buddhism, good action leads to good rebirth and bad action gives rise to bad rebirth. As a corollary of this theory, if a person is deaf, dumb, hunched back, one eyed, lame, and so on, it is because of bad action of the previous birth(s). This Buddhist theory is not congruent with the natural justice. That is why Dr. B. R. Ambedkar put forward an interpretation in regard to rebirth based on the renowned concept of physics discovered by Albert Einstein in the form of E=MC2, that is to say, energy is equal to the product of mass and square of the velocity of light. In other words, physical quantity can be converted to the form of energy.
According to Dr. Ambedkar, Gautama Buddha exhorted that human body is made up of Pathavi (earth), Tejo (fire), Apo (water) and Vayo (air). In this perspective, Dr. Ambedkar opines that these four physical quantities transform into the form of energy after death. Thereafter, when the Bhava, that is to say, the will to be born arises, rebirth takes place. The form of energy is again transformed into the human body consisting of Pathavi (earth), Tejo (fire), Apo (water) and Vayo (air). Thus, there is no question of good action or bad action as regards rebirth. It is just a transformation from energy to matter and vice versa. Hence, it was a unique application of science by Dr. Ambedkar for the interpretation of a Buddhist concept.
With
regard to revival of Buddhism in India, there were a number of problem areas,
As a matter of fact, Buddhism vanished from the land of its origin. Therefore,
it was very difficult to resurrect in the modern era. The singular contribution
of Dr. Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar gave a decided fillip and impetus to the revival
of Buddhism in India. It is now an established fact that Dr. Bhimrao Ramji
Ambedkar got success by organizing and mobilizing the down-trodden in the
systematic and scientific way.
References-
1. This Paper is Written By the Prof. Ram Nandan Singh, Department of Buddhist Studies, University of Jammu.
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